I'm thinking about that perennial question, if you could travel back in time, where would you go, and who would you most want to meet?

For me, there is one answer to that question. I would want to go back to the second century and meet Valentinus and his students, spending some time in their lecture halls, listening to them and asking questions. The Valentinian system is truly remarkable. It is the first representative of a complete systematic Christian theology, a system that began developing in the 110s. And we are only now beginning to piece it back together and see the major impact it had on the development of apostolic or mainstream Christianity.

At any rate, I'm immersed in these voices now, as I prepare an article for the conference hosted by the Russian Orthodox Church on the Christian sacramental system. And there are several questions I need to ask Valentinus or one of his students. Why is it that old papyri always is broken in just the spot where your answer lies?